Places for the Olympic and Paralympic qualification event in Szeged were the focus for a number of Britain's top athletes as sprint and paracanoe were back in race action at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham.
Taking to the start-buckets for the first time in 2024, athletes endured some tricky conditions as they battled to secure selection to the international team for the early part of the season, which also included canoe sprint World Cups 1 & 2, and the World Championships for the world-leading paracanoe team.
The men's KL2 and men's VL2 have added incentives, with selection for the Paralympic qualification event on offer as the team look to secure the final two boats for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games this summer.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Rob Oliver and 2023 World silver medallist Jonny Young produced two fantastic races in the men's KL3, with the pair neck and neck in both rounds of competition.
Incredibly, the duo recorded identical times during round one of racing as they pushed each other down the 200m, before crossing the line simultaneously in 45.90. Royal Leamington Spa's Jon Tarrant finished third in both rounds of racing.
“It was great to be back out racing again. It was a great opportunity to get some delivery practice as we build into a big year that we have in 2024. Good to get racing again, and now we know what we've got to build on.
“Rob and I finishing with the exact same time is crazy, we just need to see if we can stand at the top of the podium together in Szeged next month.”
Tokyo Paralympic Champion Laura Sugar MBE clinched two two victories in the women's KL3 event ahead of Hope Gordon (Scottish Performance Squad), with her fastest time of 51.16 coming from round one of competition.
Paralympic Champions Charlotte Henshaw MBE and Emma Wiggs MBE battled the headwinds as they took on the women's KL2. Charlotte took victories in both races ahead of Emma, with 54.12 her best time. The duo will turn their attention to the Va'a tomorrow.
Pleased to kick-start a big 2024 season, Charlotte said:
“It's been a long winter. I had surgery at the start of the year and a rebuild back as well as the last couple of weeks being disrupted. I'm pleased to be back out here on the start-line and deliver a couple of decent races in this headwind.
“We really want to use this regatta as a springboard to the rest of the season. This is the first step of a bigger picture. It's a really good opportunity to practise race processes.
“If I’m fortunate enough to be in Paris, we know it can be windy over there so it’s great to test ourselves against that here in Nottingham.”
Rio 2016 gold medallist Jeanette Chippington OBE put down two strong efforts against the elements as she took on two rounds of the women's KL1, putting down a best time of 1:04.02,
In the men's KL2, Dave Phillipson was strong on the Nottingham course with a best time of 46.81 as he looks to qualify the men's KL2 boat at the Paralympic qualifiers this May.
Szeged, Hungary will also host the next stage for Olympic qualification, with a number of events still offering spots for the Games in Paris this summer.
In the Olympic events, Deborah Kerr (Anker Valley) took emphatic victories across the board today, finishing first in rounds one and two of the Women's K1 500m finals on day one of competition.
She was pushed all the way by Chelmsford's Emma Russell with a time of 2:07.73 in the first final. Kristina Armstrong (Scottish Performance Squad) was the fastest U23 in the race and took third overall with a time of 2:08.16.
A blustery round two race saw Emily Lewis (Worcester) take the second spot with a time of 2:12.19, and Emma Russell secured another top three finish with a time of 2:15.00.
Reflecting on her performances, Deborah said:
“I'm really pleased. It's always going to be hard after last year and putting everything into the crewboats.
“To then come away and have to shift emphasis to individual training and racing as well, I'm really pleased that it's all paid off today.
“I wasn't winning from start to finish as much as I would have liked. Emma in the first race really came up and nipped at my heels and I just managed to get ahead of her, I actually thought she might have had me on the line, so that was a great surprise.
“In the second race I just had to keep pushing to keep Emily at bay and hope that it was going to be enough at the end.”
Dan Johnson (Chelmsford) also stormed to a double victory in both round one and two of the K1M 1000m finals. The Chelmsford paddler put down a best time of 4:03.61 across the two races to take home the win.
Johnson was closely followed by James Russell of Nottingham in the first final, crossing the line in 4:03.82, with third going to Solihull's Tom Lusty.
Positions were reversed in the second final, as Lusty came in second and Russell finished third.
Dan said:
“I had two solid run downs. It was tough in the big headwinds out there today but we knew it was coming.
“I think it's quite important to be good in a different range of conditions which we definitely saw today.
“It was a big push with James Russell in the first race and Tom Lusty in the second . I think it's important that we had good strength and depth throughout the whole final.
“It's been a tough winter and everyone has pushed really hard. Everyone's got their own individual targets, but I think we've got a team target as well and that’s to make sure the men's team keeps improving its own standard.
“We've got to try and raise the bar so that in four or eight years time we can make sure we are in the mix every year to get that A final standard.”
It was a double triumph for Katie Reid (Forth) who was in great form on the opening day of the season, winning both final rounds in the Women's C1 200m.
Izzy Evans (Chester) and Beth Gill (Chelmsford) came second and third respectively on both occasions.
There was a clear victory for Tom Lambert (Lincoln) as he flew down the 1000m in both rounds of the C1 men's final today. He had 10 seconds on the rest of the field in the round one final, finishing with a time of 4:54.39.
Fladbury's Jonathan Jones took second place in both final rounds posting a best time of 5:04:32 out of the two races.
Elsewhere in the sprint events, Rebii Simon (Elmbridge) took the K1 Women's 1000m win today with a time of 5:05.35. Chelmsford's Melissa Johnson finished in second and was closely followed by Zoe Clark (Royal). They finished with times of 5:07.15 and 5:07.93 respectively.
Tom Lambert claimed another victory over 200m in the C1 Men's final with a time of 53.43, whilst Matt Collinge (Fowey) and Matt Johnson (Chelmsford) teamed up for an emphatic victory in the K2 Men's 1000m race.
A straight final for the K2 Men's 200m race saw the Nottingham/Richmond team of Hayden Cooke-Bayley and Dylan O'Connor bring the win home with a time of 39.73.
Trevor Tomson (Ealing) put down the fastest time in the heats of the K1 men's 200m with a 42.98. In a separate heat, Lewis Fletcher (LKR) was second fastest of the round with a time of 43.84.
The final will take place tomorrow morning at 9:40am.
Philippe Ehrnrooth (Devizes) claimed first place in the final of the K1M U18 1000m, with Falcon's Sam Dickson winning the U16 event.
The K2M U18/16 1000m winners were Toby Bullock and Joe Enoch as the Exeter/Nottingham crew powered down the course crossing the finish line six seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Reading's Annabel Hutchinson was the K1W U18 500m winner today, coming in with a time of 2:19.45. In the K1 Girl's U16 race Sadb Shannon (SLP) was first to complete the 500m in the final this morning with a time of 2:33.22.
Dianora De Bilio (Royal), Charlotte Fulford (Reading), Frankie Scrivener (Falcon), Kamila Sklenarova (Norwich) teamed up to become a powerhouse down 500m in the K4W U18/U16 race.
Annabel Hutchinson and Dianora De Bilio both added further wins in the 1000m, taking top spot in the K1 U18 and U16 respectively.
Regan Toop of Devizes stormed to victory in the K1M U18 200m race with Nathaniel Lamb (Southampton) hot on his heels. Rounding up a brilliant day of racing, the K1M U16 winner over 200m was Tom Hattom (Richmond) with a time of 46.82.
You can find the full results online here.
Racing gets underway again tomorrow morning at 8:32am. Keep an eye on our channels for more updates.